Overview
As a fellow-author, I understand that the experience of being edited can sometimes seem challenging in abstract. I am passionate about demystifying the process and making it both enjoyable and productive. I always focus on helping authors develop the best version of the novel they want to write, whilst also bearing in mind genre demands and commercial expectation.
I believe that editing is a collaborative, conversational process. I have worked across a range of genres, with experienced and debut authors. I place a strong emphasis on the relationship between character and plot.
In this context, I provide creative feedback alongside technical and structural support. Within this, I always address each individual author's specific concerns about their work.
I deliver mark-ups on manuscripts with accompanying overview notes and also offer a talk through of the issues raised.
I work freelance for agents and for publishers, and I also teach Creative Writing at Oxford University. This range of experience within both the industry and the classroom gives me a deep understanding of why stories matter, and how to help you write your own story, in your own original voice.
Services
Non-Fiction
Fiction
Languages
Work experience
Unbound Publishing
Providing detailed line-edits and overview notes for writers from diverse backgrounds, taking projects through multiple drafts to publication. I have worked across a range of genres from historical fiction, contemporary procedural thriller, ecological-based dystopia to medical memoir.
Oxford University Department for Continuing Education
I developed and teach an Advanced Creative Writing Online Course for aspiring novelists, providing a ‘toolkit’ of skills that they can apply to their own independent works of fiction – from story creation to final draft.
I also devised and teach 2 week-long intensive in-person classes. One for writers who are just getting started; one for more experienced writers with works in progress.
Self-employed
My most recent book, Lost & Found is a collection of rewritten folk tales, which was published in UK (2022) and USA (2023)
The Ingenious Edgar Jones (2007) is a coming-of-age story set in an imagined Victorian Oxford, combining historical fiction and magical realism.
My debut novel Nightdancing (2003) is a dark romance which combines magical realism and urban fantasy. It won the Society of Authors' Betty Trask Award.
Portfolio
